The Deadly Truth About Inhalants

Vapors from toxic substances that are inhaled for a quick high are called inhalants.

Inhalant highs appeal mostly to young people, but the practice also influences some adults.

As the lungs quickly absorb chemicals from inhalants into the bloodstream, the brain endures instant and significant altering.

The slowing effects on the brain are similar to that of anesthetics, although inhalants are more dangerous, causing irreversible physical and mental damage.

The deadly truth about inhalants

There are thousands of household products that could be abused, however, the ones most often used are glue, toluene, gasoline, lighter fluid, spray paint, correction fluid, cleaning fluid, paint solvents, shoe polish, nitrous oxide, and amyl nitrite.

Inhaling terms

1. Sniffing is when users inhale chemical vapors directly from open containers.
2. Huffing is the process of breathing the fumes from rags soaked in chemicals of choice. Some spray the substance directly into their nose or mouth or pour it into a collar, sleeves or cuffs and periodically sniff it.
3. Bagging is where fumes from chemicals are inside a paper or plastic bag and the user inhales by tightening the bag around their nose. Many baggers suffocated while bagging in enclosed areas.

Inhalants have many street names, some of which you may have heard mentioned during conversations and didn't understand that they were referencing chemical inhalants.

Common street names for inhalants

Air blast	Aroma of men	Moon gas	Whippets
Highball	Laughing gas	Thrust	Hardware
Satan’s secret	Snotballs	Bullet bolt	Poppers
Ames	Bolt	Oz	Whiteout
Hippie crack	Locker room	Toilet water	Heart-on
Shoot the breeze	Spray	Buzz bomb	Quicksilver
Amys	Medusa	Toncho	Hiagra in a bottle
Huff	Texas shoe shine	Discorama	Rush snappers
Snappers	Bullet	Poor man’s pot

Ways inhalants affect the body

• Inhalants can damage heart, kidney, brain, liver and bone marrow 
• Inhalants starve the body of oxygen and force the heart to beat more rapidly and irregularly
• Inhalers report experiencing nausea, nosebleeds and a loss of hearing and smell. Chronic users have wasted and reduced muscle tone. The poisonous chemicals damage the lungs and the immune system.
• Inhalers can die from Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome, which can happen the first time a user inhales or after years of abuse.

Like any other chemical and or synthetic drugs, inhalants eventually destroy the body's chemistry, which causes severe and irreversible damage.

Prescription drug abuse is clearly at epidemic proportions, however, other abuses are happening in the shadows that don't get attention unless or until someone dies as a result.

You may have noticed some lightheadedness and disorientation when using cleaning supplies around the house. This usually happens if you're in a closed-in under-ventilated space like a bathroom.

Well, imagine spraying the fumes into a plastic bag and placing it over your nose and mouth to inhale them for an intensified effect. Have you ever thought about it?

When we go to buy cleaning supplies or other chemical products, we don't think of those items as a means to get high. Unfortunately, they are.

However, chemical inhalants are also used by some addicts as a go-to high when they can't get their preferred drug. For them, at this point, any stimulant works. Unfortunately, inhalants are plentiful and are found virtually everywhere.

No one has to remind us that toxic fumes are detrimental to a person's health. The warning is written on the containers, and many industrial complexes require masks to be worn when using poisonous chemical inhalants.

Short-term effects of inhalants

Because the chemical toxin is inhaled directly into the nervous system through the lungs, it produces instant mind-altering effects. The user experiences chemical intoxication similar to alcohol within seconds, along with a variety of other effects during or shortly after use:

Slurred speech	Drunk, dizzy or dazed appearance
Inability to coordinate movement	Hallucinations and delusions
Hostility	Apathy
Impaired judgment	Unconsciousness
Severe headaches	Rashes around the nose and mouth

Prolonged sniffing of chemicals induces irregular and rapid heartbeat, leading to heart failure and death within minutes.

Suffocation death occurs when oxygen in the lungs and nervous system are replaced with the chemical, causing breathing to cease.

In many ways, our homes contain enough poison to kill the entire block. But that's another blog altogether.

Article was written by Peggy Hatchet James
Copyright © 2015